GSD Venture Studios Podcasts by Gary Fowler
Join Udi Lazimy, Founder & CEO of FUDI Protein, for a conversation on what may be the most important protein opportunity hiding in plain sight — and why the food industry has been routing it through a cow instead of putting it on your plate. After leading Sourcing and Sustainability at Eat Just — makers of Just Mayo and Just Egg — Udi saw firsthand how fragile and opaque alternative protein supply chains had become. His answer was FUDI: a food and agtech startup built on regenerative American-grown alfalfa, near-field mobile processing, and a circular model that returns byproducts to farmers as premium feed. The result is RuBisCO — the most abundant protein on Earth — unlocked for human food for the first time at commercial scale. In this episode, we get into the science, the supply chain logic, the crowdfunding strategy, and what it really takes to build a protein company that can rival egg white and whey on performance, price, and sustainability. 🎯 Insights You'll Learn: What Is RuBisCO?: RuBisCO — short for ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase — is the most abundant protein on Earth, driving photosynthesis in plants, and has attracted repeated scientific interest for its amino acid profile and functional performance. So why has no one commercialized it — until now? Why the Market Wants It Badly: A severe U.S. whey protein shortage has some suppliers sold out through the end of 2026, with prices up more than 50% since January — and roughly 70% of Americans say they want more protein in their diets. RuBisCO is a supply-side answer to a supply-side crisis. The FUDI Difference: FUDI's proprietary alfalfa extraction process uses a localized and mobile processing model — plants are harvested and processed near the fields, and the high-value alfalfa byproduct is returned to local farmers, eliminating the byproduct commercialization challenge that constrains profitability for conventional protein crops like yellow peas and rice. Performance That Competes With Egg White: RuBisCO extracted from alfalfa leaves is a white, neutral-tasting, complete protein with a PDCAAS of up to 1.0, with functional properties comparable to egg white in foaming, gelling, and binding applications. The GLP-1 Tailwind: People using drugs like Ozempic experience a 25–40% decrease in muscle mass — far more than non-medicated weight loss — making high-quality, complete protein intake critical for the roughly 12% of U.S. adults now on GLP-1 medications. RuBisCO is positioned directly in that demand wave. The Dual Fundraising Model: FUDI is running an equity crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder alongside an institutional round led by Green Boy Group, funding the transition from lab-scale extraction to pilot production, customer sampling, IP filings, and the start of regulatory approval for human food use. The Infrastructure Ambition: "We're not inventing a new crop or asking farmers to change what they do," says Lazimy — alfalfa already grows on 17 million American acres. FUDI isn't a science project; it's a new layer of protein infrastructure built on what already exists. 🌍 Why This Matters: The protein in alfalfa leaves — some of the highest-quality protein on the planet — is essentially being routed through a cow before it reaches a human plate, and most of it never does. FUDI is reversing that inefficiency at the infrastructure level. 👤 Expert Background: Founder & CEO of FUDI Protein — a Madison, Wisconsin-based food and agtech startup extracting RuBisCO from American-grown alfalfa for B2B food ingredient markets. Former Head of Sourcing & Sustainability at Eat Just (Just Egg, Just Mayo) — with over 25 years of experience in alternative proteins and agrifood systems. Backed by Green Boy Group, a global B2B supplier of plant-based ingredients with offices across LA, Chicago, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Sydney.
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